Tempting Taine by Kate Silver Read Free Book Online

trickle of unease she felt at the possibility she had underestimated the danger.
    “I have a Jeep.   It was built to handle conditions like this.”
    “And I have my gumboots,” she replied with some asperity, showing him her legs encased in rubber boots to the knee.   “They were build to handle conditions like this, too.   In fact, they probably handle the rain better than your Jeep does.”
    His face grew blacker than ever at her words.   “That’s not funny.”
    Had he always been this angry and bitter, so quick to criticize and to demand?   Or was it just the effect she had on him now?   “It wasn’t meant to be.”
    Just before they reached the hospital parking lot, Verity finally broke the stony silence that had fallen between them and asked the question that had been haunting her ever since he had pulled up alongside her.   “How did you come to be on my street at this time of the morning. ”   She had to know the answer – even if only to confirm her worst suspicions.  
    “I was looking for you.”
    “What for?”   She hoped it was not about Aroha - the child did not need her world turned upside down by the sudden appearance of her father.   She had gotten on just fine over the last nine years without one.  
    He shrugged, but didn’t answer.
    “Has your father taken a turn for the worse?”   Talking about work was much safer territory than thinking about her daughter.
    He stared straight ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel with tense knuckles.   “No.”
    His reaction was niggling at her.   There was something about this situation she did not understand and it made her feel uncomfortable.   “Why then?”
    He let go of the steering wheel with one careful hand and gestured at the water running down the windscreen.   “It was raining.”
    His words made no sense to her.   None at all.   “So what if it’s raining.   It’s the middle of winter.   What else do you expect it to be doing?”
    “You don’t have a car.”
    “So?” she challenged him.   She had never had a car and did not plan on getting one, either.   It was her choice and nothing to do with him.
    “So, you had to walk to work in the rain.”
    “You drove twenty miles in this weather just to give me a ride to work?”   She gave a disbelieving snort.   “Yeah, right.”
    He pulled into a parking space close to the side entrance and cut the engine. “You’d better believe it.”
    She shrugged, annoyed at his pretense .   Once, she might have believed him.   Once, he might have driven fifty miles just to give her a ride around the block.   But now ?   When they meant nothing to each other?   She reached for the handle of the car door, anxious to escape his presence.   “Yeah, whatever.”  
    His face was black as he turned to her.   “I went looking for you this morning because I want you back, Verity,” he ground out between clenched teeth.   “Even knowing how self- centered and selfish you are, even knowing that you care more for yourself than you could possibly care for anyone else, I still want you in my bed again.”  
    He scowled at her, the lines on his face looking harsh and angular in the misty winter light.   “And I’m giving you fair warning - I intend to have you there.”  

Chapter 4
     
    Verity froze with shock, her hand still on the door handle.   She made no move to open it.   She did not think she could move even if she tried.   Taine still wanted her?   Taine?   “You d...don’t even like me,” she finally stammered, as breathless as if she had just run a marathon.   Taine could not do this to her.   He just couldn't .   She felt as though she were immobile in the grips of a nightmare and struggling to wake up.
    “You’re right – I don’t like you very much at all.   I don’t trust you, either.”   He reached out and brushed a damp tendril of hair from off her face with gentle fingers.   “That doesn’t stop me from wanting you,